What! No Plan for 2012! Read This Now!

I do my annual planning in January because December is too busy with clients and clearing up after the long year. But there’s a danger in this. In January, after a good break, I feel a huge desire to “get back to work”, not to sit around planning.

So when the phone starts ringing…

…there’s a temptation to take the meeting, make the sale, do the coaching. And before I know it, I’m heading into February, busy, busy, busy, not having taken any time to really plan for the new year. And that’s dangerous. It’s robotic and it’s thoughtless. And in the past I have succumbed to this. But not for a good few years.

Having the same year as last year is hardly the end of the world but it wouldn’t be taking me closer to the world I have in mind.

To get to that world I need to…

…take a big step forward towards ultimately separating what I do with my time from what I do for my money. Financial freedom.

If I can do that and help my kids to understand it’s a real option in life and by the way here’s a roadmap…that’s worth getting out of bed for.

Further, the world does not treat people who deliver average results averagely. It treats them badly. You might as well be upper quartile, upper decile, upper centile. Why not? And if you don’t want 2012 to be your best ever year, what do you want it to be? Third best year? Fifteenth?

But…

…there’s seven working days left in January and if you have not yet got your plan together your time is running out…

If you are not sure what to do, my last two posts tell you. Here they are (but don’t click on them yet):

Before you read them you need to get on the train because it’s leaving the platform. You need the quick catch up programme. You need the adrenalin needle stabbed straight into your heart.

And here it is:

Set ONE goal…

…to achieve by the end of 2012. Just one goal. But not the usual incremental stuff. One big goal. It can be about your finances, your career, your relationships, your health and fitness. Anything. It’s up to you. But make it big. Make it transformational.

Here’s the wording –

By 31st December 2012 I will have…

…doubled sales

…set up my own business

…moved to Carmel

Take ONE action…

…now, what is the number one MASSIVE ACTION you must take above all others that you are not already doing or not doing enough of that will deliver this goal?

This will almost certainly be a recurring task. It isn’t some trivial activity like revamp the sales literature. Or tart up the website.

It might be make twenty calls to potential customers every day for a year. It might be drastically restructuring your finances and changing your behaviours towards money. You will know what it is. You will have thought about it before, however briefly.

Whatever this MASSIVE ACTION is, put it in your diary right now and take some form of action on it TODAY. It is critical you do this today. And when you’ve done it put the next step in your diary for as soon as possible.

OK, well done. This is a start. You are now on the train to your best ever year. You are hanging on by your nails but at least you are on the train.

4 Responses to What! No Plan for 2012! Read This Now!

Always a great way to start the week. My Monday is my day for business management – I always try to take the time to plan the week (and the month and the year ahead), sitting down with key staff – not least our marketing manager – and agreeing waht we are all going to do.

I have been a fan of goal mapping for about fifteen years and know what I have done in those fifteen years. I know I can do more and 2012 is the year to prove it.

Oh I am definitely here,don’t ever doubt it, Mark!
Great words of wisdom to help us all start the year well. Like you say it’s so easy slip into February without noticing as time flies when we’re having fun (and even if you are not having fun, it still goes pretty fast……!).
So let’s all decide WHAT our big goal is going to be and JUST DO IT (no reference or credit to sporting brand intended).